Already Gone
by jalf1018
Summary: A one-shot of Addison's life based on the Sugarland song of the same title. There are hints of Addek.


_**The idea for the story came to me a few weeks ago but the middle section came to me this past weekend. The story is based loosely on the lyrics of Sugarland's song Already Gone. Those lyrics and the characters from Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice do not belong to me. Please leave me some reviews. **_

**Already Gone**

_~~~~August 1986~~~~_

_My momma mapped out the road that she knows  
Which hands you shake and which hands you hold  
In my hand-me-down Mercury, ready to roll  
She knew that I had to go_

Addison slammed the trunk of her Mercury. It was packed with her designer clothes and dorm room necessities. Her backseat was full of shoes and purses. Even the passenger seat had a crate of books to bring up with her. It was a good thing she was driving herself to Columbia University. There wouldn't have been room for anyone else. She was calculating the time it would take to drive into the City from her family's Connecticut mansion. In an hour or two she'd begin the next part of her life away from the mess that was Hartford high society.

"Do you have everything dear?" asked her mother. "It's not too late to rent the van."

"I have absolutely everything I need Bizzy," she replied. Like any other teenager in her position she just wanted to hit the road and like any parent Bizzy's eyes were misty. "I'll be home for fall break in a month and a half."

"I know dear but I am still not in love with the idea that my daughter is going off to live in the city without her family."

"Savvy will be in the same building as me and you didn't act like this when Archer left for Princeton the first time." Her hand was itching for the keys in her pocket. She had been ready to leave a while ago.

"I wasn't worried about Archer the way I'm worried about you. There are a few things I need to tell you before you go."

Addison let out a bit of a huff. "Bizzy if you don't let me go soon I'm going to get stuck in traffic. You know how the bridges get."

"It will only take a few minutes. First, there will be plenty of men throwing themselves at you. When you decide to settle down, don't choose one that reminds you too much of your father. That won't end well."

Addison tried to restrain her eyes from rolling. "I know that already." Her father was a womanizer who had brought her along to the office where she saw him openly flirt with his secretaries. Eventually she figured out that her father had been cheating on her mother for years. He had eventually left her mother for some twenty year old blonde he knocked up when she was in high school. He had never really spent any time with her or Archer after that. "Can I please get going?"

"One more thing and then you can leave. Don't forget who you are, a Forbes-Montgomery. Even though you'll be in Manhattan, I expect you to act like it."

"How could I forget? I'll miss you Bizzy," Addison said as she got into her car.

"I'll miss you too Addy," Bizzy said right before Addison slammed the door. The older woman knew that her words of wisdom had fell on deaf ears. Addison was going to do what she wanted to, she was already gone.

_~~~~Four Years Later~~~~_

_They say the first time won't ever last  
But that didn't stop me the first time he laughed  
All my friends tried to warn me, the day that we met  
"Girl, don't you lose your heart yet"_

It was the first weekend of her medical school career and Addison wanted to start it off with a bang. Some guy in Naomi's class had invited her to a house party with promises of vodka and beer. Naomi said it was going to be a small affair but the address had led them to a frat house overflowing with people. "Nay, which house did you say it was again?"

"I'm pretty sure it's this one, you know with all the music and drunk med students," she replied with a laugh. "I know it's not your usual scene but Sam said…"

"Oh yes the mysterious Sam Bennett. I can't wait to meet the man who has so firmly turned my friend's head." Since meeting him earlier in the week Naomi had developed a crush which she told her best friend about.

"Come on Ads, keep it cool. I don't think he realizes that I like him."

"Nay, you're blushing and have a huge smile plastered on your face. I could play it as cool as ice and it wouldn't make on bit of difference," she replied playful as they walked up the sidewalk. As they entered the door, they were greeted by the thump of bass and a young black man.

"Naomi, I didn't think you were going to make it."

"Please, miss this? Not on your life. This is my roommate Addison Montgomery. Ads this is Sam Bennett from my medical ethics class."

Addison reached out her hand, "It's nice to meet you Sam. I'm going to go get a drink and leave you two to talk." Addison walked past a beer pong table to what appeared to be a fully stocked liquor shelf. She picked up one of the red cups that signaled party and poured herself some raspberry vodka. Across the room she noticed someone eyeing her up and talking to his friend. She finished her drink and poured herself another and went over to talk to them, but before she could one of the men had walked away. "Hi I'm Addison Montgomery, the woman you're eyeing up for later."

The guy smiled, "Derek Shepherd. I suppose I should be more subtle. That was my friend Mark, he's seemed to disappear." The fact that he was hot was not loss on Addison. He had deep blue eyes, a perfect mess of black curls, and just a hint of a five o'clock shadow. He didn't seem to be her usual type but her usual type had been letting her down lately.

"So, Derek, I am assuming you are a medical student."

"Yes, I want to go into surgery."

Addison's eyes grew a little wider, hot and intelligent. "Surgery is where I'm heading too."

"You don't say. Can I get you another drink and take you somewhere quieter to talk?"

Addison thought for a moment and looked around the room for Naomi, who was deep in conversation with Sam. Why shouldn't she have a bit of fun? "Sure, why not?"

A few drinks and hours later, Derek and Addison were talking in a quiet corner of the room. Both had passed their reasonable limit. "You know," Derek slurred taking Addison's hand, "you are stunning in a really obvious kind of way."

Addison smiled and slurred back "Who says chivalry is dead? You've figured out the secret to women. Tell us we're pretty."

Derek laughed as he started to trace circles on her hand. "You're pretty," he said again causing Addison to smile. It went on like that for a while longer until Naomi interrupted.

"Addison, we have to get going."

"Do we have to Nay? Derek here was just telling me how pretty I am." Addison was one of those happy, fun drunks.

"Yes we have to, especially since you are way too drunk. It was nice to meet you Derek," she said as she pulled her friend out from the chair. They walked out the door and back towards their house. "Did you have a good time?"

"I did. I think I'm going to marry him."

"Who, Derek? You can't mean that after one drunken conversation that seemed to have culminated in him telling you how 'pretty' you are."

"He also said I was stunning. It's just a feeling I have."

"Well go ahead and have those feelings. He does seem different from," she paused trying to remember Addison's last boyfriend.

"Carter."

"Right, Carter. How about you make this decision after getting to know him while sober?"

"Good idea Nay," Addison said as they stumbled back up to their room.

~~~~_Fifteen Years Later~~~~_

_Last time I saw him, I packed up my things  
And he smiled like the first time he told me his name  
And we cried with each other, we spread the blame  
For the parts that we couldn't change_

Addison had taken all but one box of her stuff from the trailer already. Most of it sat in storage but her clothes and shoes sat in her closet at the Archfield. The past few times she had come back to the trailer while Derek was at work but he was sitting at the tiny kitchen table watching Addison put her final things into a box.

"You didn't get your socks yet?" asked Derek, astounded.

"I haven't taken my athletic socks yet. I haven't really needed them." Addison replied looking at the book shelf. She had taken her medical journals with her the first time, but still the issue was the photo albums. "What do you want to do about the pictures?"

"You can take them, I certainly don't want them." Derek just wanted to get Addison out so he could call over Meredith.

"Don't remember anything good about our marriage."

"Addison, let's not go through this again. We tried twice and it didn't work. Just leave us this last dignity."

"I wasn't going to start anything up." She accidently dropped the one book which opened up to a picture of the two of them. "Remember this?" It was the picture of the two of them the night they had met. They were leaning on each other, both with goofy grins and Addison with a thumb up.

"It's mostly a drunken haze but I do remember. You were so drunk." They laughed together.

"Look who kept getting me drinks." Addison teased. "I didn't realize at the time that raspberry vodka was not a premixed cocktail."

"Is that why you don't drink vodka anymore?"

"Yes, actually it is. That was the drunkest night of my life."

"But it wasn't all bad?" Derek asked looking into her eyes.

"No. It was actually one of the best nights of my life. I'm sorry. I had made a promise to you and I broke it when I slept with Mark."

"I'm sorry too. I wasn't a good husband to you and then I slept with Meredith after we decided to try and make it work."

"I guess that's why we split things fifty-fifty. That's the way the blame seems to work out." Addison looked around. No trace of her remained in the trailer. "I think that's everything. I'll see you around Derek."

"Good bye Ads." He said as she watched her get into her car. He heard her turn up her radio, tuned as always to a country station.

_I was already gone  
I was already gone  
I was already gone  
Life is a runaway train you can't wait to jump on._

_**Thanks as always for reading, Jen.**_


End file.
